Feed Efficency In Cattle

Feed Efficency In Cattle

Feed Efficiency in Beef Cattle Production
Feed cost is extremely important when it comes to cost in almost all cattle production systems. Although moderately to highly heritable, feed efficiency is usually not a variable measured in beef cattle programs because feed consumed is challenging and time consuming to measure on an individual basis. Yet with the increase in feed cost, that same beef cattle operation is making an effort to measure the feed efficiency on an individual bases.
In beef production systems the weight of the animal is the single most important part in determining value. Thus, the ability to identify and propagate cattle that are efficient in converting feed into weight gain should be an important component of overall operational efficiency and result in enhanced profit potential for beef cattle producers. Feed efficiency is a measure of how much saleable product is being produced for each unit of feed consumed. Feed efficiency or feed conversion is generally not a variable measured in beef cattle performance testing programs because the amount of feed consumed is extremely difficult and time consuming to measure on an individual basis. However, technological advances in electronic identification of animals and recording of individual feed consumption in computer data bases present an opportunity to measure individual feed consumption during the course of performance trials. In cattle operations, the most common measurement for feed efficiency is the feed conversion ratio, which is a ratio of feed intake to live-weight gain. Calves “that consumes fifteen pounds of feed per day and gains three pounds live-weight per day would have a feed conversion ratio of fifteen to three, or 5:1” (Lamb, 2009). The feed conversion ratio is a measurement for feed efficiency that is most often used to help evaluate different sets of developing and finishing beef cattle to establish a cost for production prices in feeder calf operations. Cattle that will convert...